Jannatul Ferdousi Jura : A courtroom falls silent. The judge delivers the verdict: death sentence. For many, those words may sound like the end of a criminal case. Legally, however, they are not the end. In Bangladesh, a death sentence passed by a Sessions Court is followed by a series of judicial safeguards, appeals and constitutional procedures before it can ever be carried out.
A Sessions Court’s death sentence cannot be executed immediately. Under section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, when a Court of Session passes a death sentence, the proceedings must be submitted to the High Court Division for confirmation. The sentence cannot be executed unless the High Court Division confirms it.
This proceeding is commonly known as a Death Reference. It is a mandatory legal process. At the High Court Division, the case does not merely become an administrative formality. Under section 376 of the Code, the Court may confirm the sentence, pass other sentence permitted by law, annul the conviction, order a new trial in appropriate circumstances, or acquit the accused. The law also allows the High Court Division to require further inquiry or additional evidence where necessary.
At the same time, the convicted person has a right to challenge the conviction. Section 410 of the Code provides that a person convicted in a trial held by a Sessions Judge or Additional Sessions Judge may appeal to the High Court Division. In actual practice, death references and appeals may therefore be considered together. Bangladesh Supreme Court judgments demonstrate that the death reference and the appeals have been heard together and are being disposed of by common judgement.
If The High Court Division confirms the death sentence the legal journey may still continue. A condemned prisoner can challenge the High Court Division’s decision before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court under Article 103(2)(b) of the Constitution of The People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Published Supreme Court judgments show cases moving from a Sessions Court death sentence to a High Court Division death reference and appeal, and subsequently to the Appellate Division. Here appeal shall lie as a right.
This process is significant because a death sentence is irreversible once carried out. The appellate stages therefore provide opportunities for courts to examine questions of law, evidence, procedure and the appropriateness of the sentence before the final stage is reached. Article 105 of the Constitution gives the power to the Appellate Division the power to review any judgment or order made by it.
There is also another constitutional safeguard: the President’s power of mercy. Article 49 of the Constitution gives the President the power to grant pardons, reprieves and respites and to remit, suspend or commute sentences imposed by a court, tribunal or other authority. Thus, even after the judicial process has progressed, the constitutional framework provides a further avenue concerning the sentence.
The Code of Criminal Procedure also recognises the possibility of governmental commutation. Section 54 of the Penal Code provides that, in cases where a death sentence has been passed, the Government may commute it to another punishment provided by the Code, without the offender’s consent.
Only after the relevant judicial and constitutional processes have been exhausted can the execution process move forward. Section 381 of the Code provides that, after receiving the High Court Division’s order on a death reference, the Sessions Court takes the necessary steps to give effect to that order.
The journey from “death sentence” to “execution”, therefore, is not a single step. It is a chain of legal scrutiny: trial, death reference, appeal, possible further appeal, and consideration of constitutional or statutory powers concerning the sentence.
For the public, understanding this process matters. A headline announcing that a court has “sentenced someone to death” does not necessarily mean that execution is imminent. It means that the trial court has reached a serious judicial conclusion one that must pass through further legal scrutiny.
The strength of a justice system is measured not only by how it punishes crime, but also by how carefully it protects against irreversible error. When the verdict is death, what happens next is not an afterthought. It is the law’s final test of caution, fairness and due process.
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